Meeting set to discuss Texas redistricting

In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court order against the latest version of state voting maps in Texas, local party officials are concerned that the higher the state's redistricting fight climbs the lower voter confidence may sink.

Democratic and Republican party leaders and state election officials will meet Tuesday with federal judges to discuss possible changes to the 2012 primary filing and election deadlines following Friday's order that leaves candidates for Texas House, Senate and U.S. Congressional seats without valid district maps.

Although the Texas Democratic party continues to accept filing applications, the state Republican party has suspended the filing period for state House and Senate and U.S. representative seats.

County officials also must wait and see what comes out of Tuesday's meeting and are preparing to put the brakes on the business of preparing voting equipment leased by local political parties.

"We were ready to begin programming election terminals with candidates' names based on filing information but the court's order puts a halt on all that," Nueces County Clerk Diana Barrera said.

In Nueces County, where a county-drawn Commissioners Court map also is under legal challenge, the picture is even less clear for candidates, party officials and precinct chairs — those party faithful most responsible for getting people to the polls.

Most candidates who filed for local, state and federal primaries before Friday's order said the last-minute change does not derail campaign plans, but some party officials wonder what damage is being done to voter confidence.

"Most of the concern is coming from precinct chairs," Nueces County Democratic Party Chairman Gerald Rogen said.

Sam Dalton, Nueces County Republican Party assistant primary coordinator, said the concern now is whether the primary, currently scheduled for March, could be pushed as late as May.

"People are impatient," he said. "We may lose them if we go as late as May for a primary when people are thinking about summer vacation plans, not politics."

Rogen said Nueces County is getting shortchanged in the fight for minority voting rights.

"The costs are high, and it seems as though it has failed," he said.

A panel of three federal judges ruled against maps passed by the Legislature earlier this year and redrew districts for legislative and congressional seats. Candidates were prepared to run under the panel's maps, until the Supreme Court ruling cast uncertainty over the primaries.

The maps passed by the Legislature protected the interests of minority voters, particularly Hispanics, state Republican Party Chairman Steve Munisteri said.

"We hope the court will either restore the original district lines of the Legislature, or at the very least, make revisions to the district court panel's maps which are more in tune with the legislative intent," Munisteri said in a statement issued Friday.

Rogen said the long-term consequences, however, may come in the form of eroded support from voters who may feel increasingly pushed to the side in what is a complex, litigious process.